Let’s go thriftin’.

On Nov. 3-4, the Community Service Club will start up its thrift shop in the Hub for the eighth straight year, raising donations to help students at the school.

“The main purpose of the thrift shop is to get clothing into students’ closets,” community service coordinator Mary Collins says. We don’t price things according to what they cost, we price them to move: we want students to take them.”

While the main goal of the thrift shop is to get clothes into the hands of kids who need them, it’s also used to raise money for the students. This money can then be used in a variety of ways to help students at the school.

“Each year we raise around $2,000 from the two thrift shops. We have one in the fall and one in the spring,” Collins explains. “The money we raise is given to the Student Emergency Assistance Fund, and that fund is used to provide necessities to students who are in a hard situation.”

Most, if not all, of the clothes sold in the thrift shop are donated by students and staff who don’t need them. Thus, the clothes fall into the hands of the kids who do. Many also shop just to buy clothes that they find interesting.

There are plenty of students who think that the thrift shop doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

“I think the thrift shop is a good idea, but it’s not thought highly of by many students,” junior Katie Sullivan says. “Whenever I see it in the Hub, I don’t really take time to go look through clothes.”

As for the excess clothes (and yes, there are plenty of them), they’re all shipped off to other thrift shops around the Chicago and Evanston area.

“At the end of the day we usually have around 10 bags of clothes left, they get donated to the Junior League thrift shop on Chicago Ave.,” Collins says. “All the funds raised there from our clothes get donated to Evanston Hospital.”

If students miss the opportunity to shop at the thrift shop next week, there will be another opportunity during the spring to get some new clothes. If you would like to donate clothes, boxes are available in various places around the building, such as in the south entrance and in the main entrance. You can also bring donations to the Hub as well.